We are coming together again on the 9th of May to continue our exploration of the ‘Power of Foods’, what Ancient Hippocratic Philosophy can teach us and how we can aspire to a Harmonious Diet, which is called “ΔΙΑΙΤΑ”.If you are in London, then come and join us.For more information & to book a place, e-mail me: ihealthbeing@gmail.com orphone me: 07958-495537
Saturday 9 May 2015, 12 – 2:30 pm
The Woolman Room, 8-9 Hop Gardens, London WC2N 4EH
Cost: £25 per person. Limited availability. ‘Greek mountain tea’ and ‘Hippocratic snacks’ will be provided.

Hippocrates put the person at the center of his attention, while modern medicine focuses on the disease. Hippocrates was first and foremost interested in finding out what led to the development of the symptoms experienced by the person. He distinguished lifestyle patterns and personal characteristics that predisposed to certain conditions. Although modern medicine is increasingly accepting the importance of lifestyle in the development of chronic diseases, it continues to give priority to examining the illness and treating the symptoms. Hippocratic therapies involved primarily changes in food, exercise and other lifestyle patterns while modern medical treatments concentrate on pharmacological and surgical interventions.

In The Art, the writer gives general advice on how a patient should be treated. He explains that medical treatment consists of much more than drugs:

The most famous doctors cure by changing the diet and lifestyle of their patient and, by using other substances. Such capable doctors have the knowledge and ability to use
the therapeutic properties of most natural or man-made products (The Art 2.6; Jones 1923)

Nutritional Medicine meets Greek Philosophy

Our food & the way we eat, combined with the exercise we take and other lifestyle factors, are key factors for our health and well-being.

Come and learn in this 2 hour introductory workshop how to combine the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher & father of Medicine Hippocrates, with the science of Nutritional Medicine. Use the lessons and aphorisms of Hippocrates and the knowledge of modern science to begin transforming your health and achieve a harmonious diet, lifestyle and way of being.

To register, e-mail ihealthbeing@gmail.com

or call 07958 495537

Workshop to take place at the Health Being Institute, Woolman room, Quaker Meeting House, 8 Hop Gardens, London WC2N 4EH

I am going to talk about the two big systematic reviews which showed that current dietetic treatment of cancer patients has no evidence base. I will then ask the audience to consider ways forward.

I will also offer my informed opinion on how we should be using diet and lifestyle to support people diagnosed with cancer: at the time of diagnosis, during their treatment, when they are cleared of any signs of cancer, when they are at the palliative stage and when they are dying.

Nutritional and lifestyle medicine can be of huge help to cancer patients. The literature to support this is significant and the majority of people affected seeks ways to improve their diet and lifestyle, in parallel to their pharmacological treatment.

It’s time for the NHS to acknowledge and endorse the ancient motto that ‘Food is Medicine’

While I was away, I read some interesting articles about the relative benefits of walking and running. This was of interest to me, as I had taken the advice of Eleni Tsiompanou,the integrative doctor at Penny Brohn, to stop running some time ago.Overall, it seems the benefits of a 5-minute run, match those of a 15-minute walk. Broadly speaking, it seems the benefits associated with a 25-minute run are equivalent to walking for 1 hour 45 minutes. Obviously if you are young healthy and reasonably fit, running is more time-efficient. Or is it? With running there is time spent getting changed twice and showering afterwards. (Assuming that you have a healthy attitude to personal hygiene) Plus, there is the time stretching (before and/or after running) and maybe even cooling down. So a 15-minute run could, in reality, easily take an hour out of one’s day. This is significantly more time than that devoted to say, a 45-minute walk (which, generally, will require no changing, stretching or showering) and you spend all the time outside!Runners may also be prone to injury. I know from first hand experience about this. When I used to run a lot, I had a succession of running related injuries (shin splints, right calf, lower back, to name a few), which was one of the reasons which eventually led me to think about giving up running.Prior to my liver resection in February 2011, I had a personal trainer who was helping me get fit again, after a year of very gentle exercise. My aim was to run a 10km race and raise money for cancer charities. I was feeling great and beginning to enjoy the running. Then I was diagnosed with a metastasise in my liver. It required surgery. I had to stop the running while I recovered from my surgery.

That March as part of my post op recovery, I went to Penny Brohn for a few days. During which I saw Eleni Tsiompanou ( an Intergrative Health Doctor) and we discussed the subject of exercise and how much was advisable. I told her what my plans were and that I hoped to get back to running again soon. I was not expecting what she said. I remember her words “Running – no way – this is far too much for you. Walking – most definitely and as much as you like. But running no”. I was confused!

The reason, she explained to me, was that my immune system was having a difficult time dealing with fighting off the cancer cells floating around my body. Running can suppress the immune system. So if my immune system is suppressed after I run then the cancer cells can prosper. Which is not a good idea.This made sense! Cardio/aerobic (distance) running is known to (stress) suppress the immune system, You only have to think of distance runners such as Mo Farah, Paula Radcliffe who have been prone to infection illnesses .

Walking can be sustained all year and can be carried on as you get older. Walking is much easier and in my experience it is more conducive to ‘social networking’. Another advantage of walking is that it can easily be incorporated into one’s daily routine. My friends are of the age when going for a walk is not too off putting. I can’t think too many of my friends who would get excited by asking them to go for a 5km run. But a walk with Colin and me seems to be OK.

So I was excited by the good news that cancer patients can cut their risk of dying by up to half – simply by walking just one mile a day, according to experts. A study revealed physical activity as a ‘wonder drug’, with those diagnosed with breast and prostate cancers able to cut their risk of death by up to 40 per cent. Bowel cancer patients, need to double the walking distance to halve the risk of dying. The calculations are based on walking one mile at a moderate pace of 3mph, which would take just 20 minutes a day.

The research by Walking for Health, a network of walking groups run by Macmillan Cancer Support and the Ramblers, found physical activity can also reduce the impact of some debilitating side effects of cancer treatment, such as swelling around the arm, anxiety, depression, fatigue, impaired mobility and weight changes. The charity estimates that 1.6million of the two million people living with cancer in the UK are not active at recommended levels.

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘Today’s research highlights the very simple reality – walking can save lives. ‘We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is a very simple and obvious solution. Physical activity is a wonder drug and health care professionals must prescribe physical activity, such as walking, as a standard part of cancer recovery.’

Thankfully I took the advice of that doctor at Penny Brohn. With the help of my new personal trainer, my doggie companion Colin, I walk every day. Whatever the weather he gets me outdoors for his walk and I have no choice but to accompany him.

My friend Ruth and her dog Jazz are most mornings our companions so it has become a social networking activity. I always feel better after the early morning walk and it changes the energy I woke up with. Instead of feeling sleepy and reaching for a cup of tea to wake me up I return refreshed and keen to get on with my day. Not all of us were ‘born to run’, but almost all of us were ‘born to walk’. !

CardioBuzz: Vegan Diet, Healthy Heart?

In this guest blog, Kim A. Williams, MD, a cardiologist at Rush University in Chicago and the next president of the American College of Cardiology, explains why he went vegan and now recommends it to patients.

Physicians want to influence their patients to make lifestyle changes that will improve their health, but sometimes the roles are reversed and we are inspired by patients. It was a patient’s success reversing an alarming condition that motivated me to investigate a vegan diet.

Just before the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) annual meeting in 2003 I learned that my LDL cholesterol level was 170. It was clear that I needed to change something. Six months earlier, I had read a nuclear scan on a patient with very-high-risk findings — a severe three-vessel disease pattern of reversible ischemia.

The patient came back to the nuclear lab just before that 2003 ACC meeting. She had been following Dean Ornish, MD’s program for “Reversing Heart Disease,” which includes a plant-based diet, exercise, and meditation. She said that her chest pain had resolved in about 6 weeks, and her scan had become essentially normalized on this program.

When I got that LDL result, I looked up the details of the plant-based diet in Ornish’s publications — 1- and 5-year angiographic outcomes and marked improvement on PET perfusion scanning — small numbers of patients, but outcomes that reached statistical significance.

I often discuss the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet with patients who have high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, or coronary artery disease. I encourage these patients to go to the grocery store and sample different plant-based versions of many of the basic foods they eat. For me, some of the items, such as chicken and egg substitutes, were actually better-tasting.

There are dozens of products to sample and there will obviously be some that you like and some that you don’t. One of my favorite sampling venues was the new Tiger Stadium (Comerica Park) in Detroit, where there are five vegan items, including an Italian sausage that is hard to distinguish from real meat until you check your blood pressure – vegan protein makes blood pressures fall.

In some parts of country and some parts of world, finding vegan restaurants can be a challenge. But in most places, it is pretty easy to find vegan-friendly options with a little local Web searching. Web searching can also help with the patients who are concerned about taste or missing their favorite foods. I typically search with the patient and quickly email suggestions.

Interestingly, our ACC/American Heart Association (AHA) prevention guidelines do not specifically recommend a vegan diet, as the studies are very large and observational or small and randomized, such as those on Ornish’s whole food, plant-based diet intervention reversing coronary artery stenosis. The data are very compelling, but larger randomized trials are needed to pass muster with our rigorous guideline methodology.

Wouldn’t it be a laudable goal of the American College of Cardiology to put ourselves out of business within a generation or two? We have come a long way in prevention of cardiovascular disease, but we still have a long way to go. Improving our lifestyles with improved diet and exercise will help us get there.